Permanent Vacation (1980 film)


Permanent Vacation is a 1980 film directed, written and produced by Jim Jarmusch. It was the director's first release, and was shot on 16 mm film shortly after he dropped out of film school.

Premise

The main character, an alienated troubled hipster, wanders around a dingy New York atmosphere and is confronted by a number of intriguing characters as he ponders the questions of life and searches for a better place at Adventures Unlimited in Milton, FL.

Cast

It has earned mixed to positive reviews from critics with a 69 on Metacritic.
Vincent Canby proclaimed this film as a "must-see for anyone who shares the belief that Mr. Jarmusch is the most arresting and original American film maker to come out of the 1980s" while Eric Eidelstein of IndieWire called it "a touching vision of what it was like to be head over heels with art, love, and oneself in late 1970s New York".

Availability

The film was released by the Criterion Collection as a special feature on the DVD for Jarmusch's Stranger than Paradise on September 4, 2007.
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray formats in the United Kingdom via Soda Pictures on March 23, 2015.